Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Feeling a little mental

Well there, post #3 for the day. I figured I had some catching up to do. :p So this whole job search thing is really starting to get to me. I'm not so much worried about finding something, I just want to know where we're going already! While there seem to be several options, we haven't actually received an offer yet. Which, in a way, is a good thing, because it's still slightly early. And if the timing works out, we should get the offers we're expecting all around the same time, which is going to make it easier to sit down and figure out where to go. Dave, of course, has been staying in touch with people, and has been getting some details here and there about what would be expected of him, as well as how secure jobs would be, etc. It seems like these past few weeks, we've been spending just about every evening talking about different options. It's a bit difficult when all we can do is speculate about what the offers are going to be (as far as pay and benefits), but at the same time we just can't help it. This is a huge decision. So, we're trying to figure out where to move, and the pros and cons of not only the jobs, but also different locations. What's a good place to raise a family? What about schools? What about climate/weather? What about safety (crime rates etc.)? What about cost of living? It's been a lot of fun for me to look for homes online, just to get an idea of what's all out there. At the same time, it's driving me crazy. But I can't stop doing it. Do you see where this is leading? Yeah, I'm driving myself crazy, just a little bit. It doesn't help that more and more people around us are beginning to ask if we know where we're going yet. I know they mean well, and to a certain extend share our excitement, but it's not helping my mental state. :p Oh well, this too shall pass. I guess we just have a lot of "countdowns" going on right now. 10 more weeks until baby #4 joins our family, two more birthdays around that same time, Dave's dissertation being due, and hopefully defended by the end of March. In a way, I'm anxiously waiting for April, as things will hopefully settle down a bit - at least for a few weeks before we should start getting ready to move. To wherever... :p

This is how John is, always trying to weigh pros and cons of options that he doesn't even have all the details of. He would sit at the computer for hours and hours looking at different homes in Syracuse, NY before we got a job offer that was too low to even consider. Then I was thinking, "Look how much time you wasted." But really, we did use that information when we turned the job down. So going over things in your mind and researching options is good. I looked at the schools out here all around Chicago for months before we came to look at houses, so we had a good idea of where we wanted to be and where we definitely did NOT want to be. I'm sure you already know a lot of online resources, but greatschools.net is a good place to look at a bunch of schools or districts in each area you are considering, just to get an overview of each place. Of course the reviews are not perfect but they do give you some background info that helps you see what the neighborhood is like. They gave our el. school here a 10 out of 10, but it doesn't mean it's perfect by any means (most days I long for the charter school back in N.L. which scored 6). Anyway, it's something to do while you wait for the offers to come rolling in. Good luck!

Ugh. I know exactly how you feel. We've been in the job search mode several times, and it's really not any fun, especially when you're pregnant. Then you're just waiting for everything. Yuck. Good luck.